Hydrocarbons obtained from subterranean formations are often used as energy resources, as feedstocks, and as consumer products. Concerns over depletion of available hydrocarbon resources and concerns over declining overall quality of produced hydrocarbons have led to development of processes for more efficient recovery, processing and/or use of available hydrocarbon resources. In situ processes may be used to extract hydrocarbon materials from subterranean formations that were previously inaccessible and/or too expensive to extract using available methods. Chemical and/or physical properties of hydrocarbon material in a subterranean formation may need to be changed to allow hydrocarbon material to be more easily removed from the subterranean formation and/or increase the value of the hydrocarbon material. The chemical and physical changes may include in situ reactions that produce removable fluids, composition changes, solubility changes, density changes, phase changes, and/or viscosity changes of the hydrocarbon material in the formation.
Heaters may be placed in wellbores to heat a formation during an in situ process. Examples of in situ processes utilizing downhole heaters are illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 2,634,961 to Ljungstrom; U.S. Pat. No. 2,732,195 to Ljungstrom; U.S. Pat. No. 2,780,450 to Ljungstrom; U.S. Pat. No. 2,789,805 to Ljungstrom; U.S. Pat. No. 2,923,535 to Ljungstrom; U.S. Pat. No. 4,886,118 to Van Meurs et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,688,387 to Wellington et al., each of which is incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein. There are many different types of heaters which may be used to heat the formation; a typical type of such heaters can be formed by inserting mineral insulated (MI) cables into coiled tubing.
Currently, various challenges still exist in the area of techniques for downhole deployment of well instrumentation in in situ hydrocarbon recovery operations. For instance, it is a very time consuming and complicated process to deploy heaters in presence of a production pump. US patent application publication No. 20150354302A1 discusses a transition device for deploying instrumentation below a downhole tool, wherein it is proposed to take an instrument line and cross over a portion to the outside an a reverse direction for communication with the reservoir past the pump which could stay in place when the pump is removed. However, the disclosed device is not making the deployment faster, and if the heater is made by inserting MI cables inside coiled tubing, the device cannot prevent formation fluid from entering the coiled tubing, which might lead to serious consequences in high temperature conditions.